Two nights ago I had dinner here in Phoenix at T. Cook’s (at the Royal Palms Resort). Ratings (out of 5) follow the break.
dinner at t. cook’s
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Monthly Archives: December 2006
vista on a t60 not ready for prime time
I’m being daring. While I’m reading articles for a paper that’s due yesterday, I’ve installed Microsoft Vista on this here Thinkpad T60 (2007-75U). A lot doesn’t work — most of the device drivers and utility programs fail to start up. I can live without things like Rescue and Recovery, or the fingerprint scanner driver for the time being. I also didn’t mind uninstalling Sonic DLA.
There are also released/beta drivers for the modem (combined 32/64 bit version), the UltraNav (32 & 64 bit versions, though I’m not brave enough to go 64-bit yet), the hard drive Active protection System (32 & 64 bit versions) and the ATI x1400 video (though I recommend getting ATI’s updated 32 or 64 bit version instead).
But I’m especially upset that the hotkeys, which were working fine with the Vista beta driver (which is extremely well hidden!) suddenly have decided to stop working. The “On Screen Display” service (TPHKSVC) won’t start, claiming “Error 1075: The dependency service does not exist or has been marked for deletion.” Of course, the Dependencies tab for that service shows no dependencies. Nothing useful is in the System log, either. Grumble.
On further inspection, there is event 7030: “The On Screen Display service is marked as an interactive service. However, the system is configured to not allow interactive services. This service may not function properly.” This looks like it’s related to security fixes for session 0 isolation pushed through in Vista. Still, it was working for a time under vista, so I think this is a red herring of some sort.
There’s also no appropriate power management support, so Vista is sucking up batteries like there’s no tomorrow, even with screen brightness at its lowest level. Good news: Lenovo/IBM released a beta driver. Bad news: the driver’s no longer available (at least, not under document ID MIGR-66919, nor anywhere else I can find. Did anyone cache a copy of the download before Lenovo/IBM pulled it?) Fortunately I’m tethered for the next few days.
Hopefully when the official Vista drivers show up in the next 6 weeks, things will be a lot smoother. Right now it feels like I’m running OS/2 2.0 again, and living with limited functionality at the expense of a prettier/better user interface.
crazy old doctor who
Tom Baker seems to have gotten up on the right side of bed today.
appreciation without arrogance
Must every Toronto based art & architecture/civic design log serve up the same self-aggrandizing, political-agenda-pushing arrogant snobbery that promotes exclusion and moral crusading over the free exchange of ideas? Hasn’t anyone explained to these people that you attract more flies with honey than with vinegar, and (to paraphrase) your art is not my art?
Oh, right, I forgot. They’re blogs. That’s their point these days isn’t it? Ways to pat your friends on the back, and by everyone else’s conspicuous absence from inclusion, continue to perpetuate your clique’s elitism. Ways to build a bully pulpit and force the world, kicking and screaming, into your point-of-view. Ways to build an image for yourself, based on a meager handful of accomplishments combined with slickly-edited copy and a gorgeous low-available-light photograph.
Yesterday, I had a lovely day in my home city. I was really enjoying myself. It made me want to explore the city more. And then I had to read the blogs I linked to above. They were the metaphorical equivalent of rolling over in bed and finding your hot, sexy lover has been replaced by a mandrill who wants you to put your lips on his/her genitals. And, judging by the kitchen knife in his/her left hand, won’t take no for an answer. And then he/she gets up and blogs about it, attaching the one photo he/she took of you that could be interpreted to imply that you enjoyed yourself — when all you were doing was trying not to gag.
I’m not player-hating. There need to be environmentalists, futurists, artists, free thinkers. Some of the articles in those blogs were actually useful. But do you all have to be so goddamn supercilious?
buenos aires
I have finally gotten around to posting some 30-odd photos of Buenos Aires from my trip there for work in late November:
wonderfall heroes
Caught by skewed, and a bunch of other fans, then screencapped by me:
Heroes 1×06, only a few minutes into the episode. (Bryan Fuller is a producer on Heroes, apparently.)
Jaye Tyler lives! Perhaps she’s a hero too?